Energy Saving Switch of Continuously Powered Transformers

ABSTRACT

An additional miniature switch or jumper switch to be integrated within the power connector of any device that is using transformer but that does not need to be connected to it all the time. The energy saving switch will disconnect the primary winding of the transformer from the voltage source when the device does not need to be powered. 
     The energy saving switch could also be integrated within the turn-on/off circuit of any devices that is using transformer continuously plugged to a voltage source to power the device that may be turned-off either with an interrupter (mechanical or even electronically with remote control). 
     The energy saving switch operates when a transformer is not in use but still wasting energy while connected to a voltage supply. The energy saving switch will simply disconnect the primary winding of the transformer when no device is connected or when the device is turned-off.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to chargers, power supplies,rechargeable-power supplies and, particularly, to transformers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

One day my husband and I were watching a TV show that was talking aboutways to save energy. One of them is to unplug unused devices (any kindthat use transformer) from the outlet when not in use. It turns out thatthese transformers consume power whenever they are plugged into the walloutlets, whether they are connected to a device or not. Since then wetry to unplug them when not in use.

One day I told my husband: “there should be an easier way than alwayshaving to bend down and unplug these transformers from the outlets! Whydon't they put a switch inside the connector that will shut down thetransformer when we disconnect the device?”. Hence, this idea begins.

The power consumption of an idle transformer is not large—on the orderof 1 to 10 watts per transformer. But it does add up. Let's say that youhave 10 transformers, and they consume 5 watts each. That means that 50watts are being wasted constantly. For a year you will have wasted 50*24hours 365 days=438 kilowatt-hour. A kilowatt-hour cost about 15 cents inmy area, that means that I am wasting 438*0.15=$65.7 every year down thedrain.

Going up to the scale of the US—there are roughly 100 million householdsin the United States. If each household wastes 50 watts on thesetransformers, that's a total of 5 billion watts. As a nation, that'smore than $750,000 dollars wasted every hour, or $6,570,000,000 wastedevery year! More than 6 billion dollars of energy are wasted in the USalone for a year.

Right now the only way to save energy when a transformer is not used isto disconnect the voltage source applied to its primary winding. Most ofthe time this means unplugging the device from the power outlet and thisrequires an effort from the user and his desire to save energy.

The shortcomings are that you need to have a person that is concernedabout wasting energy and also that person is willing to unplug idletransformer each time.

It would be advantageous to provide a saving of energy by simplydisconnecting the primary winding of a transformer of any unused device.

It would also be advantageous to provide a way for users not to changetheir habits but still make them save energy that would have been wastedother wise.

It would further be advantageous to provide an integrated switchdirectly to the power connector or within the turn-off circuit of thedevice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided anadditional miniature switch or jumper switch to be integrated within thepower connector of any device that is using a transformer but does notneed to be connected to it all the time. The energy saving switch willdisconnect the primary winding of the transformer from the voltagesource (usually the outlet) when the device is not being powered.

The energy saving switch could also be used with any device that isusing transformer continuously plugged to a voltage source (any outletfor example) to power the device that may be turned-off either with aninterrupter (mechanical or even electronically with remote control). Theenergy saving switch would be integrated within the turn-on/off circuitof the device and will disconnect the primary winding of the transformerfrom the voltage source when the device is turned-off.

The energy saving switch operates when a transformer is not in use butstill wasting energy while connected to a voltage supply. The energysaving switch will simply disconnect the primary winding of thetransformer when no device is connected or when the device isturned-off. This could be done even without notice from the user sincehe will be doing the same thing as before: unplugging the device fromits power cord or turning it off.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained byreference to the accompanying drawings, when considered in conjunctionwith the subsequent, detailed description, in which:

FIG. 1 is a general flow chart interpretation of the energy savingmethod for any device or rechargeable power supply using a transformer;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart interpretation of the energy saving method forany device or rechargeable power supply connected by a removable powercord;

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of an adapter or transformer thatis always connected to a power supply;

FIG. 4 is a schematic of an adapter or transformer that could bedisabled with a switch placed in series within the primary winding ofthe transformer;

FIG. 5 is a schematic of a typical rechargeable device or device thatneeds to be powered using an adapter that connects rechargeable-circuitto a power-supply via a power connectors;

FIG. 6 is a schematic of a power-saving technique of a rechargeabledevice or device that needs to be powered using an adapter that connectsrechargeable-circuit to a power-supply via power connectors whichcontained a micro-switch or detect-switch within the female powerconnector; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic of a power-saving technique of a rechargeabledevice or device that needs to be powered using an adapter that connectsrechargeable-circuit to a power-supply via power connectors whichcontained a jumper-switch within the male power connector.

For purposes of clarity and brevity, like elements and components willbear the same designations and numbering throughout the Figures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a general flow chart interpretation of the Energy savingmethod 10 for any device or rechargeable power supply using atransformer 32. It is determined whenever to detect that power is needed12 to power the device or rechargeable power supply either when thepower cord of the device is connected to the adapter forrecharge-circuit or transformed power supply 38, or when the device isswitched on manually or with remote control with the transformer 32built-in within the device. It is determined whenever to detect thatpower is not needed 13 to power the device or rechargeable power supplyeither when the power cord of the device is disconnected from the theadapter for recharge-circuit or transformed power supply 38, or when thedevice is switched off manually or with remote control with thetransformer 32 built-in within the device. If power is not needed topower the device or rechargeable power supply, a switch 42 willdisconnect the primary winding of the transformer 14. If power is neededto power the device or rechargeable power supply, a switch 42 willreconnect the primary winding of the transformer 16.

FIG. 2 is a chart interpretation of the Energy saving method 10 for anydevice or rechargeable power supply connected by a removable power cordto an adapter for recharge-circuit or transformed power supply 38. It isdetermined whenever the power cord is connected 18 to the device orrechargeable power supply. If the power cord is disconnected 20 to thedevice or rechargeable power supply, a switch 42 will disconnect theprimary winding of the transformer 14. If the power cord is connected 18to the device or rechargeable power supply, a switch 42 will reconnectthe primary winding of the transformer 16.

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of an adapter including atransformer 32 that is always connected to a power supply. Thetransformer 32 is constituted of a primary winding of the transformer 34and the secondary winding of the transformer 36. Here the power supplyis an alternative power supply 30 that could be the alternative powersupply 30 from the outlet 48. The primary winding of the transformer 34is always connected to the power supply so it will always consume energyeven if the adapter for recharge-circuit or transformed power supply 38is connected to a device or not. Here the adapter for recharge-circuitor transformed power supply 38 will generate a voltage transformed 40 topower a device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic of an adapter or transformer 32 that could bedisabled with a switch 42 placed in the primary winding of thetransformer 34. In this case, the primary winding of the transformer inseries with a switch 46 is not always connected to the power supply andcould be disabled with the switch 42 if the adapter for recharge-circuitor transformed power supply 38 is not connected to a device via thepower cord or does not need to operate because it is turned-off eithermanually or with remote control. The switch 42 could be integrateddirectly inside the power connector if the device uses a power cord toconnect the adapter for recharge-circuit or transformed power supply 38.The switch 42 could also be integrated directly within the turn-on/offcircuit of the device when the transformer 32 is within the deviceitself. If the device uses remote control to turn-on/off, an electronicswitch 42 will be used to disconnect and reconnect the primary windingof the transformer 16. Since the main power supply will be disable theelectronic switch 42 will need to be powered by a small battery thatcould be rechargeable.

FIG. 5 is a schematic of a typical rechargeable device or device to bepowered or recharged 58 using an adapter that connectsrechargeable-circuit to a power-supply via power connectors (femalepower connector 54 and male power connector 56). Usually one femalepower connector 54 and one male power connector 56 are used to connectthe adapter for recharge-circuit or transformed power supply 38 to thedevice to be powered or recharged 58. The primary winding of thetransformer 34 is always connected to the outlet 48 via a power supplyplug 50. Both the female power connector 54 and the male power connector56 will need 2-wires conductor cable 52 to power or recharge the deviceto be powered or recharged 58.

FIG. 6 is a schematic of a power-saving technique of a rechargeabledevice or device that needs to be powered using an adapter forrecharge-circuit or transformed power supply 38 that connects device tobe powered or recharged 58 to a power supply via power connectors whichcontained a micro-switch 42 or detect-switch within the female powerconnector 62. When the device to be powered or recharged 58 is connectedvia power connectors to the adapter, the detect-switch within the femalepower connector 62 will be closed and will reconnect the primary windingof the transformer 16, and the device will be powered. However when thedevice to be powered or recharged 58 is disconnected from the powerconnectors, the detect-switch within the female power connector 62 willbe opened and will disconnect the primary winding of the transformer 14and doing so will save energy when the device does not need to bepowered or recharged. The female power connector 54 will require 4-wiresconductor cable 60 instead of a 2-wires conductor cable 52 to be able todisconnect the primary winding of the transformer 14. The female powerconnector 54 will be a female power connector with 4 terminals 64. Twoof the terminals will be used to connect the switch 42 and the otherstwo will be used as usual to connect the transformed power supply.

FIG. 7 is a schematic of a power-saving technique of a rechargeabledevice or device that needs to be powered using an adapter forrecharge-circuit or transformed power supply 38 that connects device tobe powered or recharged 58 to a power-supply via a power connector whichcontains a jumper-switch within the male power connector 68. When thedevice to be powered or recharged 58 is connected via power connectorsto the adapter, the jumper-switch within the male power connector 68will reconnect the primary winding of the transformer 16, and the devicewill be powered. However when the device to be powered or recharged 58is disconnected from the power connectors, the jumper-switch within themale power connector 68 will disconnect the primary winding of thetransformer 14, and by doing so will save energy since the primarywinding of the transformer 34 will be disconnected from the powersupply. The female power connector 54 will require 4-wires conductorcable 60 instead of a 2-wires conductor cable 52 to allow the primarywinding of the transformer 34 to be disconnected from the power supply.The female power connector 54 will be a female power connector with 4terminals 64. The male power connect will also require 4 terminals, buttwo of them will be shorted together to act as a jumper-switch withinthe male power connector 68. The male power connector 56 will be a malepower connector with 4 terminals 66.

Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operatingrequirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in theart, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen forpurposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications whichdo not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of thisinvention.

Having thus described the invention, what is desired to be protected byLetters Patent is presented in the subsequently appended claims.

1. An energy saving switch of continuously powered transformers for thepurpose of the energy saving switch is to disconnect totally anytransformer from the main voltage source when unused, comprising: meansfor disconnecting the primary winding of the transformer from the supplysource when the transformer is not needed to operate to power the deviceor the rechargeable power supply, or for reconnecting the primarywinding of the transformer from the supply source when the transformerneeds to operate to power the device or the rechargeable power supply.2. The energy saving switch of continuously powered transformers inaccordance with claim 1, wherein said means for disconnecting theprimary winding of the transformer from the supply source when thetransformer is not needed to operate to power the device or therechargeable power supply, or for reconnecting the primary winding ofthe transformer from the supply source when the transformer needs tooperate to power the device or the rechargeable power supply comprises ajumper switch within the male power connector, or detect-switch withinthe female power connector, or mechanical or electronic switch withinthe turn-on/off circuit of the device switch.
 3. An energy saving switchof continuously powered transformers for the purpose of the energysaving switch is to disconnect totally any transformer from the mainvoltage source when unused, comprising: a jumper switch within the malepower connector, or detect-switch within the female power connector, ormechanical or electronic switch within the turn-on/off circuit of thedevice switch, for disconnecting the primary winding of the transformerfrom the supply source when the transformer is not needed to operate topower the device or the rechargeable power supply, or for reconnectingthe primary winding of the transformer from the supply source when thetransformer needs to operate to power the device or the rechargeablepower supply.
 4. An energy saving switch of continuously poweredtransformers for the purpose of the energy saving switch is todisconnect totally any transformer from the main voltage source whenunused, comprising: a device to be on, or power connectors to beconnected to detect that power is needed, for detecting if thetransformer needs to operate to power the device or a rechargeable powersupply; a device to be off, or power connectors to be disconnected todetect that power is not needed, for detecting if the transformer doesnot need to operate to power the device or a rechargeable power supply;a switch, or jumper switch, or electronic switch to disconnect theprimary winding of the transformer, for disconnecting the primarywinding of the transformer from the supply source when the transformeris not needed to operate to power the device or the rechargeable powersupply; a switch, or jumper switch, or electronic switch to reconnectthe primary winding of the transformer, for reconnecting the primarywinding of the transformer from the supply source when the transformeris needed to operate to power the device or the rechargeable powersupply; a jumper switch within the male power connector, ordetect-switch within the female power connector, or mechanical orelectronic switch within the turn-on/off circuit of the device switch,for disconnecting the primary winding of the transformer from the supplysource when the transformer is not needed to operate to power the deviceor the rechargeable power supply, or for reconnecting the primarywinding of the transformer from the supply source when the transformerneeds to operate to power the device or the rechargeable power supply; aprimary winding of the transformer in series with a switch, for thetransformer to be enabled or to be disabled, safely wired to saidswitch; a 4-wires conductor cable, for allowing the primary winding ofthe transformer to be disconnected or reconnected from the voltagesource (in this case the outlet) and transmitting the transformed powersupply to the device to be powered or recharged, safely wired to saidswitch; a micro-switch, or push button switch or detect-switch withinthe female power connector, for detecting if the device is connected tothe adapter for recharge-circuit or transformed power supply and fordisconnecting or reconnecting the primary winding of the transformerfrom the power source with the detect-switch; a female power connectorwith 4 terminals, for detecting if the device is connected to theadapter for recharge-circuit or transformed power supply and fordisconnecting or reconnecting the primary winding of the transformerfrom the power source; a male power connector with 4 terminals, fordetecting if the device is connected to the adapter for recharge-circuitor transformed power supply and for disconnecting or reconnecting theprimary winding of the transformer from the power source and integratingthe jumper-switch; and a jumper-switch within the male power connector,for detecting if the device is connected to the adapter forrecharge-circuit or transformed power supply and for disconnecting orreconnecting the primary winding of the transformer from the powersource with the jumper-switch.